Always Like This
by MoonlightRurouni
Summary: She may love to walk in starlight, but those crossing stars are what doom them to be always like this...
1. Chapter 1

**This pair is the main reason why I dread the last Hobbit movie...**

* * *

**Always Like This**

The first time they meet, they are so, so young. But despite their inexperience with the world, she knows she loves him. And he loves her. At least, that's what she believes.

"Tauriel."

Hearing her name, the 150 year old elf glances to her right at her companion lying down beside her. His wild, dark hair frames mischievous blue eyes that stare deep into her own.

The sky is clear tonight and like on every clear skied night in their past, they're lying on their backs in a meadow of wild flowers. They had found the clearing when they were exploring one day, and since then, it has been their special place.

Closing her eyes, and after taking a moment to bask in the light of the stars she finally answers. "Yes, Khiiral?"

The male elf shrugs and grins with an outward cheerfulness unseen in most of their race. "Nothing, mellon-head. " he says, returning his attention to the sky.

Shaking her head at the terrible pun, Tauriel turns her gaze upwards as well.

"Are we gonna always going to be like this?" She wonders aloud.

"Like what?"

Tauriel looks towards him again, smiles gently, and arches an eyebrow at him. He rolls his eyes and props himself up on one arm. "Of course we are." He says. "Always like this."

* * *

"Khiiral!" Tauriel screams in horror and rage as the warg snaps the dark haired elf in its maw, and shakes him violently. Even from her distance, she can hear his bones snapping and muscles tearing.

Around her, the other elves leap forwards, an arrow piercing the warg's eye killing it instantly. But no heed is paid to the elf left dying in its teeth, jaws now stiff in death. The rest of their scouting party run nimbly forwards to drive off the rest of the warg pack. Tauriel is quickly left behind.

Rushing to his side, Tauriel desperately tries to remove him from the warg's teeth. She stops immediately when he lets out a weak cry of pain.

His hand moves feebly to touch her face, and Tauriel grasps it in her own as tightly as she can. "...riel," he murmurs weakly, a ghost of a mischievous grin on his face, " why so sad, Tauriel?" It is her first time seeing death clinging to someone she loves, and she doesn't know what to do or say. All that comes out of her mouth is his name, chanted over and over again.

"Tau..riel. Lay down." He says weakly, and in her shock, she obeys. "Alway...Tauriel."

Staring up at the sky above them, with him by her side, she realizes with a jolt what he's promising. She does not miss his last words: "Always like this."

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**So what do you think? Don't forget to send a review**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I've had a majority of this written for ages, but never got around to finishing it until now. Oops.**

**This ship is going to be the death of me, I swear**

**Disclaimer: haha I wish.**

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She is 300 and Tauriel has never been so conflicted in all her years.

Fate works in strange ways, and although he has come back to her in a way, it isn't in a way she'd ever imagine.

"I told my friends that elves live in the wood, I told them, but they didn't believe me!"

The eight year old human child chatters eagerly, and if Tauriel didn't recognize the unmistakeable smile and dark hair, she'd think she would be crazy. But it's him, she is sure of it.

"And why ever would they not believe you, Keoran?" She asks, as he clambers up the tree she's sitting in with a grace that should be impossible for his age. His hair is shorter this time and it falls in thick strands into his eyes. He is still so young, but Tauriel can see that he will grow into a strong warrior. Clever fingers inherited from blacksmith father, a sharp mind from his scholar mother. Already he had been introduced to the art of swords play by his skilled older brother.

Did Tauriel mention the fact that she can also see the strong jaw and chiseled face of a very handsome young man that she's sure he will grow into?

Playfully bumping into her shoulder Keoran grins up at her. "You know, I like talking to you Tauriel. The other boys in the village don't get it." He says.

Tauriel arches her eyebrow in question. Rolling his eyes, (because he knows that she knows what he's talking about) he elaborates. "They think starlight is weird. They think the night is scary"

"And you do not?"

"Nah. I think that starlight's beautiful. There's something special about it, you know?"

Tauriel smiles gently at him as her heart swells in her chest. No. Not just now. He's still a child, and has a great deal of growing before he can become the man he once was.

They stay that way for hours. Up in the tree, talking about whatever comes go Keoran's mind. In the distance, the sun begins to set, and Tauriel feels a twinge of sadness. "It is late. You'd best head home Keoran. Before anyone worries."

He frowns, "But you'll be here again, right?" He asks.

Tauriel's heart twists in pain, as she gently ruffles the child's hair. "No. I'm so sorry my dark haired mellon-head, but I have to go." She says softly. Seeing his horrified and outraged face, she brushes a stray lock of hair behind his ear. "But I promise I will come back for you. One day."

"When?"

"I don't know." She admits, "But I promise, I will."

Keoran holds out a hand to her, and Tauriel grasps it tightly. "Always like this?" He asks in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

"Always like this."

:-:-:-:-:

If there is one thing an elf is bad at, it is the concept of time. And time, is something that Tauriel is running out of.

It has been fifty years since she last set foot in this particular village. Fifty years in which she thought she had plenty of time, only to have the sudden and horrifying realization that fifty years is a very, _very_ long time for those living a mortal life. And she is terrified. Terrified that once again, a promise has been broken.

Pulling her hood down, she shakes her hair out, and glances around the small town hesitantly. Despite the time that has passed, there have been very few changes made, and all the old buildings are in the same general place. It doesn't help her in her search though.

Stepping into the blacksmith's forge, she lets her eyes wander for a moment at the various items that are displayed on the walls. Swords, axes, stirrups, spades, and everything in between line the walls. Pictures adorn several small spaces of the wall as well.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Tauriel walks up to one situated right by the front desk. Bending over to take a closer look at it, a gentle smile forms on her face. There, standing proudly with one foot placed firmly atop of an anvil and a hammer resting across the back of his shoulders, a grown Keoran beams back at her. Mouth open in his trademark laughing smile, and his long black hair tied back with a thin strip of leather, Tauriel has a moment of smug satisfaction as she remember the very accurate prediction she made when Keoran was still a child. Her smile falters when she realizes that this picture is already decades old.

"Oh, sorry for the wait. May I help you?"

Straightening, Tauriel turns to see a young man, probably just into his twenties. His hair is just a shade lighter, and jaw slightly wider than Keoran's. She knows that he is definitely a descendant of his. His face is red and sweaty from the heat of the forge, and he hastily wipes it with a rag when he sees the grace in her body language and the points in her ears.

"F-forgive me. We've never had the pleasure to serve an elf before, my lady." He says with a nod, his face again turning red, though not for the reason stated before. The way he carries himself is just like Keoran…She thinks to herself. Giving him a small smile before she continues Tauriel nods at the photo.

"I know this man. Do you know where I could find him?" She asks.

"Gramps? You know Gramps?!" He asks in shock, and Tauriel's suspicion about his relationship to Keoran from before is confirmed. For a moment she is overjoyed-judging by how he phrased it, Keoran is still alive. But she's then bitten by a feeling of irrational jealousy. Keoran found someone else to love...Meanwhile, Keoran's grandson is biting his lip and he rubs the back of his neck uncertainly. "Gramps…He hasn't exactly been faring the greatest lately." He admits.

Tauriel's horror must've shown on her face, because Keoran's grandson's expression turns sympathetic. "Probably didn't know right? Yeah, Gramp's been ill for months now. Father says that it's his sheer stubbornness that's keeping him here." Glancing up at her, he asks uncertainly, "Did you want to see him…?"

Nodding silently, Tauriel follows him out of the smithy, and back into town. "My name is Rieran by the way." He says as they make their way to one of the houses that face the wood.

"Tauriel." She says quietly, looking anxiously at the windows of the modest house in search for familiar dark hair and smiling eyes. She sees a movement in the window and moments after a small child sprints out of the front door, and jumps into Rieran's arms.

"Daddy!" She cries. Her wild, dark hair frames her face, which is glowing with a smile. "Gramps went to the wood today again and he said that I could come with him to the tree, but only if you take me, so will you, please?" She says all in one breath.

Scooping her up, Rieran kisses her cheek. Noticing Tauriel's gaze, the man blushes. "Tauriel, this is my daughter, Del. Del, this is Tauriel. She's Gramps…" Rieran hesitates, glancing at the elf uncertainly.

Tauriel gazes off towards the woods. "Friend. I knew your grandfather when he was a child." She says, offering her a small smile.

Del nods her head, clinging to her father. Rieran lifts her up and places her on his shoulder. "Ready to go to the wood?" He asks her, bouncing her up and down playfully. Shrieking gleefully, she clings to him, fingers tangling in his hair and legs flailing wildly. Tauriel marvels at how Rieran gets away unscathed.

As they travel towards the woods that Tauriel hasn't seen for fifty years, the elf feels several conflicting emotions that she's never had to deal with before. Jealousy and joy, envy and excitement. All of it seems to revolve around the two humans in front of her.

_I should have been their grandmother_

Tauriel almost trips over her own feet in utter shock. The thought is so random and unexpected that she has to take a moment to compose herself. If she was a human maybe. Maybe, if she was a human because then they'd actually be able to age together. Maybe if he had only been born an elf again, she would be able to wait for him knowing that fifty years wouldn't be the end of their time together. Maybe, maybe-

Tauriel's eyes widen in shock as they make their way over hill. Their tree is still there, taller and weathered, but still there, stretching tall into the sky. And on a branch, lower than the last time she was there, but still ridiculously high considering his age and the illness that Rieran mentioned before.

Rieran gives a strangled cry, while Del laughs gleefully. "Gramps! The hell are you doing?" Rieran demands, lifting Del of his shoulders. Scowling, he walks up to the tree, lifting an arm up to climb up, but is freezes mid action when a ringing laugh reaches his ear, and a gentle breeze brushes past him.

Composure completely forgotten, Tauriel is laughing like an elfling first experiencing the joys of the world, but she doesn't give a damn, because he's still alive and _waiting for her_ and she didn't break her promise and-

"Tauriel."

A choked noise comes from Tauriel's mouth, as tears begin forming in her eyes against her will. "Keoran, Keoran I'm back. Like I promised." She says breathlessly, because his skin is wrinkled and littered with age spots, his hair is white, his limbs are frail but his eyes still twinkle the same way they did when he was a child, when he was an elf, and Tauriel feels like she could kiss him-

But then she realizes the starlight in his eyes is starting to fade.

"You're so beautiful." Keoran says, reaching a frail hand up to gently caress her cheek. Tauriel wets her lips and pulls him into a half hug, leaning his head against her shoulder. "My…daughter. I told her all about you." He continues haltingly, slowly weaving his fingers into the elf's. "She named…her son…after us."

Tauriel's shoulders shake with a mixture of amused laughter, bitterness, regret and affection. Tau_rie_l. Keo_ran_. _Rieran_. How could she have missed it? "It's a beautiful name." She says quietly.

"Everything okay up there Gramps?" Rieran's voice asks from somewhere below them. Del's eager chatter asking her father to let her climb the tree to sit with her grandfather and his elven friend float up to the two of them as well.

A gentle smile slowly grows on Keoran's face. "Love you Del. Rieran. Make sure you tell your mother that too, won't you?" He asks his grandchild.

Tauriel glances down at Rieran and sees the grief-stricken look he is giving his grandfather. "Gramps…? What are you…?"

"Hey Tauriel?"

"Yes Keoran?" The elf responds, nuzzling her face into the human's snow white hair, her throat tightening as she faces what is about to happen.

There's a feather light pressure on her hand as Keoran squeezes it as tightly as he can. "Always…like this…?" He asks in a voice no louder than a whisper.

It takes a moment for Tauriel to respond. And in that moment, his shoulders stop moving, his body goes slack, the slight pressure on her hand vanishes and the starlight fades from his eyes. Slowly letting out the breath she didn't know she was holding, Tauriel stares up at the sky as her heart breaks a second time.

"Always like this."

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**When is the trailer for the final movie coming out, holy god ;_;**

**Don't forget to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh man, I've left this story to gather dust for so long, I so sorry guys :S**

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Tauriel is 600 years old, and she has long given up looking for a dark haired man with starlight in his eyes. But glancing to her left, she wonders if maybe this time his dark hair has been replaced by locks the colour of gold and the starlight in his eyes replaced with the colour of the morning sky. Not that it would change anything. He'd still be far out of her reach.

The elf in question blinks, his stoic face that is typically impossible for most to read, is like an open book for her. Smiling to herself, she quickly brushes past him, her red hair trailing behind her as she grabs a bundle of arrows from their place on the wall. She feels his eyes on her back as she walks out of the armory. Frowning to herself, she touches her ears self-consciously. Yes. He is far, far away from her.

It is time for their regular patrol, and Tauriel frowns as she recalls the darkness that is seeping into their home. More often than not she is finding herself retrieving arrows from felled adversaries rather than from her own quiver. She doesn't like it at all. She can feel it as surely as she feels the wind in her face and the earth under her feet. Something is about to change.

And she's not sure if that is necessarily a good thing…

:-:-:-:-:

Tauriel's eyes shine with the promise of violence as she flies through the trees, her bow singing as she lets her arrows fly with deadly accuracy. Rolling to the ground and immediately going to stab the foul beast, she allows herself a brief but proud smile as she whirls with confidence and ease as the satisfying sound of a spider in its death throes reaches her ears. Turning to her next opponent, her lip curls as she uses her bow to fend it off, when a voice filled with urgency shouts from behind her.

"Throw me a dagger! Quick!"

"If you think I'm giving you a weapon dwarf," Tauriel says tightly as she jostles with the spider's weight, "you're _mistaken_." With an upward slice and whirl, the Captain cuts through the spider she had been fighting and throws her knife into the one approaching from behind her, all in one fluid motion.

Straightening, Tauriel lets out a breath, relaxing as the battle ends. However when she does, the dwarf behind her turns as well, and Tauriel feels her heart stutter. Wild dark hair frames wide and youthful eyes that stare back at her in surprise. Outwardly Tauriel is the battle-hardened and controlled Captain that all expect her to be, but her breath is catching and her mind is reeling. No. It cannot be.

Tauriel manages to dismiss the thought as best as she can as they take the dwarves into their underground fortress. She tries to think of something, anything that will keep her mind off the thought, but somehow she manages to be the one to shut him into his cell.

A blond dwarf that looks roughly his age makes an exasperated noise when one of her comrades retrieves a dagger hidden within the folds of his clothing. "Aren't you going to search me?" He asks, looking up at her with emotion she doesn't dare to try and identify in his eyes. "I could have anything down my trousers."

"Or nothing." Tauriel arches her eyebrows at him, the corner of her lips twitching upwards as she closes the cell door.

The Captain of the Mirkwood guard can't help but smile to herself. She tried to deny it, but that interaction was enough. He is here, he is back in her life, they have somehow found their way together again-

_"__Why does the Dwarf stare at you, Tauriel?"_

Tauriel starts, but manages to school her face into an expression more acceptable in the situation she's now in. "Who can say?" She says upon reflex. Pausing, her smile returns as her thoughts return to the dark haired dwarf, oh what was the name he bore in this life? "He's tall, for a dwarf." She muses, starting when she realizes she had said that out loud. Turning away from her prince, she walks forwards, trying to mask what she's truly feeling. "Don't you think?"

"Taller than some…but no less ugly." Legolas's voice floats towards her as she makes her way down the stair to make her report to their king. Tauriel allows herself to smile for a brief moment before sobering. They are reunited yes…

But the circumstances couldn't be worse.

:-:-:-:-:

Tauriel makes her way through the dungeons, checking up on their prisoners as before coming to his cell last. As she peers inside, she notices him fiddling with something in his hands. "The stone in your hand. What is it?" She asks.

He looks up at her with fiery emotion in this eyes that have been present in all his lives before this one. "It is a talisman." He says lowly, his voice becoming graver as he speaks. "A powerful spell lies upon it. If anyone but a dwarf reads the runes on this stone…they will be forever cursed." He suddenly turns towards his, his arm extending the stone to her, and Tauriel can't help but start. His gaze is strong and full of weight as he retracts his hand, and she moves to go on her way, when he speaks again.

"Or not."

Tauriel pauses before taking a step back and gazing at him curiously. A cheeky and playful smile lights up his face as he watches her with eyes as curious as hers. "Depending whether or not you believe in that sort of thing, it's just a token." He continues casually, and with a slight chuckle. A smile slowly makes its way onto Tauriel's face, recognizing that mischief that Keoran was known for in this young dwarf's voice.

"A rune stone. My mother gave it to me so I'd remember my promise."

Inclining her head, Tauriel steps closer so that she's just barely touching the cell's bars. "What promise?"

A thoughtful look appears on his face as the mirth in his eyes diminishes. "That I would come back to her." He says. Throwing the stone in the air, he catches it before turning back to her. "She worries. She thinks I'm reckless."

The images of a young elf trying to take on a pack of wargs by himself, and an elderly man who probably should not be climbing trees considering his age appear in Tauriel's mind as she gazes back at him. "And are you?"

"Nah." He says with a cheeky smile. A split second later his rune stone bounces to the floor, the only thing stopping it from tumbling downwards is her foot.

She hears him leap to his feet as she bends to pick it up to hold it up to the light. The two of them continue to speak: of starlight and fire moons, what they've seen and what they have yet to see, and the entire time, Tauriel isn't thinking of the reason why they were in her forest home in the first place, or the historical tension that will inevitably arise because of their race. All that is on Tauriel's mind is the fact that somehow she has found her One, and this time she will not let him die without knowing that.

Not this time.

:-:-:-:-:

**Sorry for vanishing for...well, for quite a long time. But this story will be finished!**


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